In the season finale of OPPO FILE, we solve a mystery: Who set in motion the oppo research into Geraldine Ferraro’s family finances? Host Joseph Rodota interviews John Roberts, former Reagan aide and author; Sheila Tate, former press secretary ...

On July 12, 1984, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale made history when he named Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. The next day, New York lawyer Roy Cohn arrived in the offices of the Reagan re-election campaign. ...

Oppo research nearly ended Vice President Mike Pence’s political career before it began. Host Joseph Rodota interviews author and journalist Craig Ferhman and former congressional aide Billy Linville about Pence’s 1988 and 1990 congressional ca...

Opposition research isn’t just a tool for understanding your opponent. It’s also a tool for understanding yourself.Host Joseph Rodota interviews Chris Lyon, who wrote a “vulnerability study” on Rudy Giuliani in 1993. Nearly two decades l...

Why do some campaigns wait for just the right moment to unveil their opposition research, while others decide to dump it all at once?Host Joseph Rodota interviews Pat Dennis, Trump War Room Research Director at American Bridge 21st Centu...

Gary Maloney was the first GOP opposition researcher to dig into the record of a rising star in Illinois politics, a young man named Barack Obama. In this bonus episode, Gary shares insights from that assignment – and an oppo researcher’s view ...

Heading into Labor Day weekend, host Joseph Rodota recaps the 2020 Democratic and Republican conventions. GOP oppo researcher Gary Maloney and press aide Jeff Nesbit describe the chaotic roll-out of George H.W. Bush’s vice presidential nominee,...

In 1988, George H.W. Bush overcame a 17-point deficit in the polls and won the election. In this bonus episode, journalist and author Tom Rosenstiel looks back at Bush’s campaign manager Lee Atwater – and why Donald Trump survived an avalanche ...

Is oppo research stranger than fiction? Who killed Dr. Death? Joseph Rodota interviews author and journalist Tom Rosenstiel; speechwriter, business consultant and author Mark Davis; and Dr. Jonathan Cullick, professor of English at Northern Ken...

Host Joseph Rodota interviews Sonia Van Meter, the managing partner of Stanford Campaigns, a Democratic opposition research firm based in Austin, TX. They cover interesting ground – and not just on Planet Earth.

What is the legacy of the bitter 1988 presidential campaign? How are oppo researchers approaching their work amidst the current national reckoning over race and policing? Host Joseph Rodota interviews Susan Estrich, the Dukakis campaign manager...

What happens when opposition researchers unearth something that touches a racial nerve? Host Joseph Rodota interviews Susan Estrich, campaign manager for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, about the Massachusetts prison furlough progr...

Political attacks have been around as long as democracy itself, but where exactly does the history of “oppo research” begin? Hosts Kate Andersen Brower and Joseph Rodota interview historian and author Susan Swain about a campaign in which the t...

OPPO FILE digs deep into the shadowy world of opposition research -- the art of digging into the background of a political opponent in order to identify weaknesses that can be exploited in a campaign. Hosts Kate Andersen Brower and Joseph Rodot...